Linda Kozlowski became a star overnight with Crocodile Dundee in 1986, playing Sue Charlton, the gutsy New York reporter who falls for Paul Hogan’s rugged Mick Dundee. One scene, though, still gets people talking: the moment a crocodile lunges at her in the Australian Outback. It’s thrilling, it’s iconic, and most folks assumed it was all movie magic—fake croc, fake danger, just Hollywood doing its thing. But here’s the twist no one suspected: parts of that scene were more real than anyone realized. As someone who’s dug into the making of this film, I’m here to spill the details—how it went down, why it worked, and what it says about Kozlowski’s grit.
Let’s set the stage. Sue’s at a billabong—a swampy waterhole—stripping down to a black thong bodysuit to fill her canteen. She’s alone, vulnerable, and bam—a massive crocodile grabs the canteen and yanks her toward the water. Mick swoops in, stabs the beast, and saves her. It’s the kind of heart-pounding moment that made Dundee a $328 million hit. The croc itself? Not real. It was an animatronic—a mechanical puppet built for the film. Back in ’86, that tech was clunky, but this one was so lifelike it fooled local hunters in Kakadu National Park, where they shot the movie. They thought it was a live catch! That’s the first clue this wasn’t your average staged scene.
Now, here’s where it gets wild. Kakadu isn’t a set—it’s a raw, untamed slice of Australia, crawling with real crocodiles. Kozlowski told People her hut was “right on the edge of a billabong,” surrounded by huge, fearless crocs that wandered onto land. “They’ve gotten fat and cocky since they’re protected,” she said. Hogan backed this up—three or four croc deaths had happened nearby that year alone. Filming there wasn’t just risky; it was nuts. At night, the crew tiptoed to the mess hall, eyes peeled for glowing eyes in the dark. So, while the attack was fake, the danger wasn’t. Kozlowski wasn’t wrestling a live croc, but she was in their backyard, and that fear? You can’t fake it all.
Think about her for a sec. She’s a Juilliard grad, trained for Broadway, not bush life. She’d done Death of a Salesman with Dustin Hoffman, not wrestled reptiles. Yet here she was, 28, in a thong bodysuit, knee-deep in a swamp, with a fake croc on a wire and real ones lurking. Hogan said they expected her to freak out—“bugs, snakes, crocodiles, the whole deal.” But she didn’t. She stood there, delivered her lines, and let the crew roll while her heart probably pounded out of her chest. That scream when the animatronic lunged? Sure, it’s scripted, but I’d bet good money some of it was pure instinct, knowing what was out there.
Why didn’t we suspect this? Movies like Dundee sell the illusion—low-budget charm, big laughs, a love story. The croc scene’s a thrill, not a documentary. Plus, Kozlowski plays it so smooth—terrified but tough—that it feels polished, not raw. The animatronic’s realism helped too; it’s not like Jaws where you spot the rubber shark a mile off. This one moved right, looked right, even tricked the locals. But the real kicker? The crew didn’t fake the vibe. Director Peter Faiman picked Kakadu for its beauty and bite—those wide shots of water and bush aren’t green screen. Kozlowski was in it, not on some LA lot with a fan blowing her hair.
What’s this say about her? She’s no damsel. She took a role that could’ve been just “hot girl in peril” and made Sue a real person—smart, scrappy, equal to Mick. Off-screen, she matched that. She married Hogan in 1990, had their son Chance, and stuck it out through two more Dundee films before bowing out in 2001. That croc scene wasn’t her peak—it was her launch. But facing real danger for it? That’s the unsung guts we didn’t clock at first.